Cat Out of the Bag
by Xmarksthespot
Summary: In which Speedy stayed on the team, Kid Flash was fed up with being treated like a kid and started his own thing, Cheshire became the new teammate with a mysterious past, and Artemis was with the Shadows. For YJAM. Hints of Roy&Jade and Spitfire. Oneshot.


**Title**: Cat Out of the Bag  
**By**: Xmarksthespot  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own YJ or this idea; this was a prompt on the YJAM thread.  
**Note**: Very basic plot; written very quickly - I might go back and edit/add onto this in the future if I feel like it.

**X-X-X-**

Speedy didn't have a thing for other archers. It made him feel unnecessarily competitive. So when a barrage of arrows flew their way, he couldn't help but grit his teeth.

"Having fun there, Feathers?" Cheshire cooed, dodging around him so that she could fire her sais at the enemies.

Had they not been on the battlefield, Speedy would have stopped his tracks to argue about his hat with the _newcomer_ that replaced Kid Flash—now calling himself _Zoom_ of all things—but the last time that happened, Batman was _not_ pleased at the outcome of their mission.

_Guys, there's more of them coming_, Miss Martian announced through their mind link.

_Ugh_, scoffed Cheshire, _more of them. How lovely._

Speedy didn't miss a beat. _Lovelier than you, Cat_.

Everyone could hear Superboy's growl of annoyance followed by Robin's snickering. Speedy had assumed that after three months of being on a team together, they would be able to complete a mission with_out_ it being a complete bust—way to be optimistic.

The arrows continued to fly at them, and with Cheshire expertly dodging each of them while Speedy fired arrows back at the stranger, the pair was kept busy as Aqualad, Superboy and Miss Martian dealt with their band of misfits and Robin did his hacking thing behind the scenes to prevent the machines from setting off on the island.

"Show yourself!" Speedy demanded, looking at the shadowed figure in front of him—the source of all the arrows. His eyes darted right and left for any signs of the enemy when suddenly an arrow flew his way from behind.

Before he was hit, Cheshire had her sai ready to block it.

"Low blow," she said, and turned to Speedy to see if there was a feather out of sight from the yellow cap he wore. Thankfully, he seemed alright, save for his ego—she did _not_ want to have to deal with that later.

Everyone turned to face the girl standing across from them. She wore a long, blonde ponytail, and a tiger's mask to conceal her identity; the twist of her lips was a clear sign of her amusement.

"Well if it isn't the sidekicks," the stranger said, just as an army of ninjas pulled behind her. "Today's my lucky day," she continued and she repositioned her crossbow.

Speedy didn't have a chance to counter the archer when Cheshire spoke.

"What do you want, little sister?"

"Little _sister_?" Speedy yelled. He turned from girl in front of them to the one standing next to him nonchalantly, oblivious to the fact that they were in deed, surrounded by their enemies once again.

"_She's_ your sister?" Superboy growled, while M'gann and Aqualad turned to their teammate for an explanation.

Cheshire shrugged coolly. "What?"

Speedy was flabbergasted and shook his head in confusion. "You're telling me that _you're_ not the evil one in the family?"

She ignored him, but rather, turned to Tigress. "What's up, sis? Did Huntress send you out here to play?"

The blonde frowned at the mention of their mother. But with a nod of her head, seeing the youngest member toy with the machines, her frown deepened. She loaded her crossbow and aimed at Robin, only to see Cheshire jump in the way again.

"Let's play," she teased again, tossing her weapons back and forth to disarm Tigress. It only served as a trigger to her teammates to start the battle once more.

Robin continued to work on the machinery and pressing various buttons on the hologram of his gauntlet until the screen flashed. "Done!" Robin told his teammates, and in that instant, Tigress pushed Cheshire away from her.

"Retreat!" She called to the others, and the swarm of black cladded men followed after the tiger.

When their enemies dispersed, no member had bothered to celebrate. They all stared at Cheshire with cautious eyes and betrayed looks.

Jade took her mask off and smirked slyly. "Scared of the big, bad cat now, are we?" She asked Speedy, but turned to the others with a finally serious look to her face. "Look, I'm not like my family. You can stop talking to each other in your heads right now, because I have no intention of going anywhere."

"Your family?" Aqualad questioned.

Jade nodded. "My mother's Huntress and has been working for the Shadows for years. Baby sister there joined not too long ago too while I'm at home with one retired daddy in a wheelchair."

While the others still looked at each other, unsure of themselves, the smallest one voiced his opinion.

"Guys, guys, this is _so_ not aster. Jade's a part of the team. She's our _friend_. Don't you think we would've been dead by now if she was really the enemy?" He paused, then added: "And don't you think _Batman_ would have done a background check on her?"

No one dared to question Batman. That was a fact.

Finally with a nod of approval (for now, because she still had a lot of explaining to do), they all walked back towards the bioship, of course with Speedy eyeing Jade cautiously.

The redhead was stopped by Robin though, who tugged onto his arm.

"What?" He asked when Robin snickered.

The boy then proceeded to whisper into Speedy's ear.

"She goes to my school and wears a uniform with a skirt. I'll send you a picture later."

The archer's face flushed red, deepening in colour as the Boy Wonder pranced off with a snarky laugh filling the air. Finally, he took one more look at Jade who only turned back and gave him a teasing smirk.

Now that he thought about it, Jade _would_ look good in a uniform…

.

.

.

"Hey there, good lookin'," Zoom's suave voice filled the air, pestering Tigress once more as he zipped towards her seat on the edge of the roof.

Tigress had been looking forward to being alone for the night, after being scolded by Huntress earlier on for losing yet another mission against Cheshire and her team of sidekicks. She glanced at the redhead formerly known as Kid Flash.

How the Light managed to capture and clone him, she didn't know. All she knew was that he was a pawn in their game, albeit a pretty attractive one, and that she had no time for his antics.

"What do you want, Kid Mouth?" she growled.

His bright grin faltered, but his dejected face didn't last long.

"Oh I was just patrolling the area when I spotted you looking like you've just been dumped, _Arty_."

Tigress' eyes widened, turning to the hero that had no problem chatting with her on late nights. "How'd you—urgh, never mind." She went back to sulking, but the grasp around her crossbow never loosened, not even with the fact that Zoom wouldn't try hurting her. Not unless she hurt him first, but they had managed to establish some sort of _weird_ relationship that Huntress wouldn't approve of. The realization prevented her from trying to shoo Zoom away again.

"Hmph, so what if you know my name, _Wallace_," she countered, but then another thought dawned on her. She turned to him. "Wait, so that means you knew who Cheshire was the entire time!"

Zoom visibly frowned at the mention of his replacement, but decided to take the opportunity to suggest something else. Plopping his bottom down onto the roof's edge, not too far from Tigress, he gave her another grin.

"_So_…"

Tigress sighed.

"How about you join the heroes?" Zoom tried to convince her once more.

"How about I shove my arrow up yours?" Tigress argued, annoyed with the hero.

Zoom was taken back at her suggestion, but he remained persistent. If _Cheshire_ –he grimaced again at the thought of her—could be on the good side with his friends, then he had no doubt Tigress here had some good in her too. She just needed some convincing.

"But Arty—"

"_Don't_ call me that name!"

Zoom sighed, watching as Tigress got up from her seat to leap off of the roof. This solo-act thing was getting to him and he wasn't fond of the silence at night. Still, as he watched her run into the darkness once again, he couldn't help but think about what Barry once told him, despite not being on good terms with the man now, and Zoom had a good feeling that Tigress was it.

His _spitfire_.

* * *

A/N: While I changed their roles in the story, I tried not to change their personalities too much. While Artemis kept her secret for the most of season 1, I feel like Jade wouldn't mind sharing it when the opportunity came up. I also de-aged Jade a few years so that she could take Artemis's place as a student at Gotham Academy.

Please review! :)


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